Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Justin Madders and Jerome Mayhew(1 week, 6 days ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)
The Employment Rights Bill is the next phase of delivering our plan to make work pay. The Bill is both pro-worker and pro-business, and will see significant benefits for employers. For example, increased worker wellbeing could be worth billions of pounds a year. The Bill will also reduce workplace conflict, which, according to a report published by ACAS in 2021, costs employers around £30 billion a year. The Bill will level the playing field so that those employers who are engaged in good business practice are not forced into a race to the bottom.
Justin Madders
I am very sorry to hear the news from the hon. Lady’s constituency. It is the case that 667,000 more people are in work compared with this time last year, and 300,000 fewer people are economically inactive. I am rather surprised that she mentions the national insurance hike, because the Leader of the Opposition was on the radio this morning and was repeatedly asked to confirm whether that hike would be reversed. She failed to do so, and it seems to me that the Opposition are in opposition to themselves.
Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
The Minister seems to be in denial. As a former entrepreneur, I visit lots of businesses in my constituency, and I talk to them about their fears. Not a single one has anything positive to say about the Employment Rights Bill—indeed, they are concerned that it will reduce employment, not increase it, and it has been estimated that it will increase costs by more than £5 billion. The Minister has been asked this before, so he has had a lot of time to think about it: can he name a single business that publicly supports the Employment Rights Bill?
Justin Madders
I can certainly name a number. I also refer the hon. Member to Hansard on Tuesday 11 March, column 953, where I named a small business. A number of other businesses have been in support: Centrica, Co-op, Richer Sounds, Nationwide, Adept, One+All, Pedal Me, Inkwell—there are many businesses that we talk to on a regular basis and that understand that treating staff well is a good thing for those businesses. It is a pro-growth, pro-worker measure.
“Chapter 4A
Debate between Justin Madders and Jerome Mayhew(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
When my hon. Friend the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Alison Griffiths) asked a moment ago which businesses support the Bill, the Minister mentioned the British Chambers of Commerce. I have just visited its website, which states:
“The British Chambers of Commerce has used an evidence session on the Employment Rights Bill to highlight businesses’ serious concerns about the legislation and the speed and detail of consultation.”
Will the Minister withdraw his comment?
Justin Madders
I am glad that the hon. Member has access to the internet. I direct him to the Department’s webpage, where he will see that Jane Gratton, deputy director of public policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:
“There is much here to welcome as sensible moves that will help ensure that employment works for both the business and the individual”.
That was in response to the amendments, so it is a much more up-to-date comment than the one the hon. Member mentioned.
Returning to the important issue of violence against women and girls, it is incumbent on every part of Government to work together to tackle violence against women and girls. That is not a task for a single Department or Minister. The Government are steadfastly committed to delivering our manifesto commitment to halving violence against women and girls, and we will publish a cross-Government strategy shortly. I intend to work with colleagues to ensure that our Department does its bit in that respect.
I also take this opportunity to note the amendments tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Heeley (Louise Haigh) and the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) on non-disclosure agreements. I have met advocates on that issue and I understand the significant problems that they have highlighted in relation to the misuse of non-disclosure agreements in some circumstances. That important issue warrants further consideration. The Government are pressing ahead with plans to implement the provisions relevant to NDAs in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 and the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. We take NDA misuse seriously and will continue to look into it to see what we can do.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Justin Madders and Jerome Mayhew(4 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)
The Government are pursuing the reforms needed to deliver sustained long-term growth. Developed and delivered in partnership with business, we have taken significant steps, including launching a consultation on the modern industrial strategy, establishing the national wealth fund, transforming our planning rules, committing to a 10-year infrastructure strategy and introducing the Employment Rights Bill to boost productivity. We have also added extra protections for small businesses by increasing the employment allowance and freezing the small business rate multiplier.
Jerome Mayhew
I think the Minister may have misunderstood my question; I asked how he would reduce employment costs. The president of the Confederation of British Industry recently said that, because of things like the Employment Rights Bill, employers will be laying people off and will be less likely to employ, and that is before the national insurance tax on employment imposed by this Government. Does the Minister accept responsibility for the increase in unemployment that we are already seeing?
Justin Madders
I think it is something of a stretch to say that a Bill that is not even law yet, most of the provisions of which will not come into force until next year, is driving unemployment already. I quote back to him what the head of the CBI said yesterday about our growth plan. He said:
“This positive leadership and a…vision to kickstart the economy and boost productivity is welcome.”
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Justin Madders and Jerome Mayhew(7 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
After receiving millions from the trade union paymasters for its election, Labour is rewarding them with a package of 1970s, French-style workplace regulations, which will increase the cost of doing business in the UK to the tune of £5 billion a year, disproportionately falling on SMEs. That is before the £25 billion body blow to business delivered by the Chancellor yesterday in her anti-business Budget of broken promises. Does the Minister agree with the Office for Budget Responsibility that this Government’s decisions will make workers poorer, not richer, as increased employment taxes are passed on in lower wages, and that business investment will fall, not rise, as a direct result of this Government?
Justin Madders
I find it incredible that the Opposition quote French-style labour laws, because when they introduced the minimum services legislation, they always held up France as the example of where that works already. I wish they would make their minds up. The implication behind the question about trade union funding says rather more about their attitude to how legislation is made in this country than ours. We do things because we believe in them. If he looks carefully at what the OBR is saying, £1,400 into people’s pockets as a result of the national living wage increase is a fantastic achievement that we should all be proud of.